Masupatsela

GREATER GOOD SA
DIRECTED by AYANDA MNCWABE
EDITED by JEMIMA SPRING
TX 3rd May 2010

As a teenager, Tamzin Ractcliffe wanted to study child psychology and child development, but her vocational guidance teacher discouraged her, saying she was too soft. As a result, Tamzin studied commerce and entered the tough financial world, as an analyst. Her persistent inner voice, however, meant that Tamzin did end up studying psychology and working with former political prisoners. This work gave her insight into how it may be possible to bridge the gap between what people do have and what they don’t have.

Over the years, her experience in asset management, psychology and as a fundraiser for Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town provided the foundation for Greater Good South Africa (GGSA). Tamzin set out to create a platform, based on the financial markets use of research and analysis, where the big corporations who were looking to spend their Corporate Social Investment money could connect with the small organisations, non-profit organisations and charities that needed the money.

Greater Good SA started as a night time job where Tamzin would take the information she was getting as a consultant and make it more publicly available on the internet. Today GGSA has an online presence where anyone can find out about the organisations GGSA supports and connects with funders. In this way, each organisation, in a sense, has its own web page with information about the organisation. The web site goes beyond this and also works like a social networking site where givers and givers can connect with each other and receivers and receivers can connect with each other.

Tamzin feels she is fortunate to be able to make a difference in people’s lives and to be doing something that she truly enjoys.

TO LEARN MORE OR TO CONTRIBUTE TO GREATER GOOD SOUTH AFRICA:
vist the GGSA web site or phone them on +27 21 762 7944.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE THE INTERNET TO HELP PEOPLE, HERE ARE THE STEPS TAMZIN TOOK:
- she established goals and objectives for the organisation
- she applied to the Shuttleworth foundation for funding for the GGSA website
- she set up an online network for NGOs and donors to meet
- she started free consultation to help NGOs understand what donors are looking for

PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR FURTHER IMAGES FROM THE GGSA STORY

MISSING CHILDREN SA
DIRECTED by CANDICE PRINSLOO
EDITED by TINA-LOUISE SMITH

Missing Children South Africa was founded by Pieter Boshoff in 2007 when Sheldean Human went missing in Pretoria. One of Sheldean’s cousins knew Pieter and asked him to upload photos of Sheldean and publicise her disappearance online. Pieter was happy to do this, but he realised that once they had the web site set up to help find Sheldean, it could be used to help find other children, too. This was when he registered the site as www.missingchildren.co.za.

The work of Missing Children was very demanding and Pieter found himself spending more time on the web site than he did on his company that earned him an income. Eventually he called on the people involved in the organisation to formalise it and today there are professionals, like a lawyer and an accountant as members of the board, who can also assist in the running of Missing Children South Africa.

The chairperson of the board is Nico Panagio, a well known local actor. Nico and other public personalities use their public presence for the benefit of Missing Children SA, to ensure that the organisation is visible to as many South Africans as possible, to ensure the safety of children in South Africa.

Missing Children SA work with community volunteers and the police to ensure the safety of children. They also promote the use of the Identi-kits, which contain the fingerprints, a lock of hair, and photographs of children. It is a kind of insurance in case your child going missing.

TO LEARN MORE OR TO CONTRIBUTE TO MISSING CHILDREN SOUTH AFRICA:
visit the Missing Children South Africa web site, email Judy Botes or phone them on +27 72 647 7464.

TO USE THE POWER OF THE INTERNET TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE, LIKE PIETER DID:
- establish that your project will be able to help
- register your web address online
- create the web site for the project
- keep updating the information on your web site, to keep visitors informed
- find funders to keep your project going
- formalise your project by establishing a board to oversee the efficient running of the project
- as your project gets bigger, work out ways to reach more and more people

SCRFEEN GRABS FROM THE GREATER GOOD SA AND MISSING CHILDREN SA STORIES: